


Courage • Thorin Oakenshield

by Angmar



Category: The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Male-Female Friendship, Romance, Torture, Trust, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6691666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angmar/pseuds/Angmar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alyssae is a young elf girl, imprisoned in the dungeons of the goblins. Because she’s a royal descent she is kept until ransom is paid. When she is freed by a company of dwarves, she decides to help them on their quest. They lost their burglar and she wants to thank them for saving her life.</p><p>Nevertheless the leader of the company eyes her with great suspicion. It seems he is not fond of elves, nor of girls. His contempt is so enormous that she doesn’t dare to reveal who she really is, scared that he will take his anger about the shortcomings of her people on her. But Alyssae refuses to leave: her kin are miles away and besides she has reasons not willing to be reunited with her family directly.</p><p>In course of time she starts to feel something for the stiff Thorin – a love which will be unanswered most likely. Which is probably for the best, cause Alyssae knows a mutual love will have far-fetching consequences. Not only for them, but also for their entire race…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

A sigh echoed through the cool pitch-black cut chamber deep inside the mountain. A sigh which was heard by nobody, except for the owner, who had less freedom to move than the breath she exhaled.  
Alyssae was sitting with her back against an ice cold wall. A wall which never became dry and made her shivering the whole time. Her legs were spread across the floor which was also moist and her feet rested against the wooden bars. The cell was too small to look around, which caused the felling like someone was harassing her joints with knives for days.  
A passerby wouldn’t dare to associate her to the beautiful, magnificent elf race. Her once spotless face was covered with a thick layer of dust and mud. Her full lips showed countless scratches and the corners of her mouth were cracked because of the little amount of water she drunk. Her shining, brown hair was so messy it looked like it had never seen a comb. The fresh cheeks she once had were hollowed now and her cheekbones were visible. Her once bright eyes gazed forward desperately, accompanied by red and purple bags which doubled her age.  
The only things showing that she was really an elf, were her pointed ears, which were covered by her hair at the very moment. And still this was the reason she was stuck here, in a dungeon which seemed to be forgotten by the world.

The days that passed on escaped her, because of the darkness in which she was kept. She lost her sense of time. The only living creatures she had seen were the goblins who brought her water and bread once in three days. But those did not deserve that names. The bread she ate wouldn’t be fed to the animals at home and the water she drunk was too muddy to sprinkle the plants. Even so Alyssae did not complain, for it was everything she had. Everything that kept her alive. That and her willpower. The inability to give up, even though all hope seemed gone.  
Although she was kept for ransom – well, she assumed she was – she knew it could take years before the goblin king came into contact with her people. But she had to hang on till that moment. Even if it would last a century.

Although it was a wild guess Alyssae suspected two months passed by since the goblins ambushed her in the woods. She was just walking and enjoying the nature, trying to get everything straight in her mind. Thoughts of Thranduin, her lover. At least, he should become her lover. Father let her know he selected him to marry her and since he was not an unfriendly elf she consented to the marriage. He was an elf prince from the South. She only met him twice, but there was some kind of friendship between them and Alyssae knew she could have been less lucky.  
How would he feel about her? Was he looking for her? Or had he given up her already? That thought made her shrink a little. It would be awful when others abandoned her, while she grasped every spark of hope. Hope to escape this dark hole.


	2. Alyssae

Alyssae was separated from the rest of the world for such a long time, she didn’t even paid attention to the distant muttering in the first place. Who else would it be, except for the goblins?  
No other living being came around in the last weeks. Well, that was not entirely true. After one of the first nights she was visited by an indefinable creature, which didn’t bring forth anything but hoarse sounds and agitated hisses. He tried to grab her with his long, bony fingers, but Alyssae’s cage fortunately was big enough to keep him away from her. After he figured out she was beyond his reach he left and never came back.  
The voices became louder and Alyssae realized they differed from the screams of the goblins she got used to. Although she couldn’t understand the words that were spoken, the sounds were deeper than those of her guards. Still she couldn’t imagine the meaning of all this.  
After a while she discovered the voices were in a screaming conversation. She raised herself with help of the bars, for she didn’t had the strength to do it all by herself, and she ignored the splinters drilling in her skin. Her breathe speeded up while she tried to catch the new sounds.  
From the distance an odd light approached, which was accompanied by the shaking of lots of footsteps, seeming to multiply by every passing second. Other sounds reached her sensitive ears and she couldn’t remember hearing such a row before. There was something going on definitely.  
The light came closer rapidly and in a short amount of time Alyssae saw it was held by a tall man with a sturdy beard. He ran across the slippery ground, followed by a row of smaller copies.  
Alyssae did her best to attract their attention, but her cell was hidden under an inclining wall, which hid her from view. Her throat was sore because of thirst and brought forward only a weak wailing, which got lost in the noise of the rumbling footsteps.  
She groped for the humid wall and humidified her fingers, after which she wetted her dehydrated tongue and palate. She shivered by tasting the metallic flavor, but noticed the spectacle next to her again soon.  
‘Help!’  
This time her cry was nearly audible as well and tears of despair run across her cheeks. She hit the bars with her hands, which neither caused a lot of noise.  
‘Just help me please,’ she whispered, whereafter she fell exhaustedly on her knees.  
By a miracle someone seemed to have heard her, for a face appeared close to her’s.  
Because of her isolation she was frightened by the brown eyes in which she was staring and she wasn’t able to say anything.  
‘Bofur!’ the man yelled. ‘Over here!’  
Now that her rescue seemed so close, she was full of new energy and she got on her knees, while she encouraged the man in silence. He was half as tall as she was and she had seen enough dwarves in her life to know she was confronted by one, although it was remarkable he hardly possessed a beard.  
Next to the man a second dwarf appeared, wearing a strange headgear. He started to swing his axe immediately. Alyssae stepped backwards frightened when the second dwarf almost cut her in twice by trying to hit the wooden bar. Nevertheless she crawled outside the moment his axe disappeared. All over the place she heard angry shrieks, by which she wondered if she was not safer inside the wooden bars of her prison.  
Despite the fact that they were probably surrounded, she knew her freedom was not far way. She stumbled after the two dwarves, hoping to find a way out. However, she was rather weakened and she lagged further behind. The dwarf with the brown eyes looked over his shoulder and she read the doubt in his eyes. Would he risk his own life to safe a stranger like her? Begging she glanced at him, but she couldn’t come up with a reason why he would actually do something like that.


	3. Alyssae

Alyssae screamed when someone grabbed her shoulder. Fearful she looked behind, by which her nose bumped upon the pale forehead of a goblin. He breathed heavily into her face and she retched by inhaling the rotten smell, although she suspected her own breath didn’t smell much better.  
The razor sharp nails of the goblin scratched through her paper-thin robe, which was made for breezy summer nights instead of cold, violent caverns like this. She didn’t know which commands the goblins received nor if they all knew they kept an elf in their dungeons for months. Maybe this malicious goblin believed she belonged with these fleeing dwarves and wanted to split her in two with pleasure.  
Her eyes became larger at the moment her thoughts became reality and the creature indeed raised his curved sword. Alyssae tried to loose herself, but the goblin seized her upper arm like a stringent claw and she saw the sword coming closer and closer. Her cry echoed through the corridors and she squeezed her eyes anxiously, trying to postpone her last seconds while she helplessly waited for the definitive pain.  
Suddenly a second cry filled the air, which died away quickly. The grasp around her arm loosened and finally disappeared. Carefully Alyssae opened her eyes. She was filled with horror by seeing the goblin laying on the ground, while an arrow was stuck in his right eye. Despite of the relief she felt because she was freed from him, she hated to see dead creatures, even when they were her enemies.  
She was startled from her astonishment when a new hand enclosed her wrist. She wanted to wrest out again, until she saw the dwarf who shot the goblin. In his other hand he held his bow, while he pulled her along.  
The dwarf run surprisingly hard with his short legs and once in a while he had to stop to wait for her. While he waited he shot some more arrows at the goblins that came too close.  
Alyssae looked forward, where she noticed a weak light going back and forth. She knew it came from the tall man, who passed her cell not so long ago.  
‘Faster, Kili,’ the voice of the other dwarf sounded.  
The dwarf lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. ‘We have to go faster, madam. I am not able to carry you.’  
The last thing Alyssae wanted was being carried by dwarves, but she nodded politely and tried to run faster, although her legs started to shiver because of the action they had to undertake after months of sitting still. Alyssae tried not to think about the protests which were raised by her limbs. She concentrated on the light before her. When she reached that she would be safe, she tried to convince herself.  
   
Alyssae was afraid she would faint when the light disappeared. Everything seemed to go by unnoticed. The pain in her legs and between her ribs almost silenced her, but the unbelievable strong fingers around her wrist kept dragging her along.  
She did not fully realize what happened when they run through a small tunnel, which brought them outside. She lost her balance and fell down along the hillside. When her head hit the ground, she wanted to keep laying in the grass and fall in a deep silent sleep. Nevertheless Bofur helped her on her feet. ‘We have to go further.’  
‘I can’t,’ Alyssae whispered.  
‘Just a little longer. We’re full in sight here.’  
It felt like the dwarf commanded her legs to walk without her permission. She followed the men through the bushes. She didn’t pay attention to the trees and the beautiful sky above her head, which she had missed for such a long time. The clean breeze she inhaled didn’t fulfill her with as much joy as it would have done in a normal situation. She was dizzy, longed for relief and the moment they arrived at an open space, she collapsed.  
She heard a harsh voice asking: ‘Where the hell did she come from?’ and then the world around her faded away.


	4. Alyssae

When Alyssae opened her eyes she saw a thick leafy canopy above here. She snorted the smell of grass and the sweet aroma of an indefinable plant. The moon shined on her arms, which were covered by mud and dust. Crisscrossing cuts and scars ridiculed her once intact blank skin.   
She moved her attention to a group of men, which were discussing loudly as if they were miles away from the goblin nest.   
‘We can’t leave her to die.’  
‘We neither can take her with us.’  
It took a little time before her stunned mind understood they were talking about her. ‘Can I help you?’  
They were of course the dwarves who rescued her. Alyssae would be grateful forever.   
The voices became silent and thirteen pairs of eyes stared curiously at her.   
‘Where do you come from?’ one of the dwarves asked. His heavy, dark eyebrows made his look threatening.  
‘I am from Chyndall,’ she answered. It was a quite unknown community and she doubted the dwarves ever heard of that place. Normally dwarves did not wander around here and she wondered what they were doing here, but she decided not to ask for it yet.  
After the mentioning of her home town an angry sniffing went up from the group. Obviously Chyndall was not unknown to them.   
‘Is she an elf?’ a despairing voice sounded.   
‘She surely is. Other creatures do not live there,’ a dwarf with a long white beard noticed. He surely was the oldest of the company.   
Alyssae glanced nervously at the dwarves. Some seemed a little frightened; others were overwhelmed or even embittered. Most of the friendly smiles were gone now and she looked at Kili in need of help, who had released her from her cell.   
‘She could travel with us until we have left the area of the goblins?’ he proposed and he glanced at the grim dwarf, who had spoken to her at first. He obviously was in charge of this mission – or whatever brought them to a place like this.   
‘There other dangers will spy upon her, while she probably would be better off with the goblins. Besides; we do not have the time to escort her.’  
Alyssae folded her arms indignantly. ‘I do not need an escort. As soon as I have a weapon, I am perfectly able to protect myself.’  
‘Well, grab a stone and go ahead,’ the leader answered indifferently.   
She clenched her fists angrily, but a calm hand on her shoulder made her turn around. ‘Don’t get exited by a stubborn dwarf, whose manners are unbelievable clumsy.’ An old man – Alyssae recognized him as a wizard – looked at her with a friendly smile. ‘Well then, I dare to state that this most pleasant company hasn’t found the courtesy yet to introduce themselves?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, but started to introduce the dwarves. Although normally there was nothing wrong with Alyssae’s memory, she could now only remember Thorin’s name: the leader of the dwarves, who seemed to be blessed by very little tact.   
‘I hoped you would have laid your old conflict with the elves to rest, since lord Elrond did help you.’  
‘Such a small deed was the least he could do,’ was Thorin’s stubborn answer.   
The wizard looked him in the eyes for a short time, but then turned his head to Alyssae. ‘My name is Gandalf the Grey.’  
She had heard about him, but was not able to connect impressive deeds to his name. ‘My name is Alyssae.’  
‘Welcome, welcome.’ Gandalf looked around. ‘Now we miss just one more fellow.’


	5. Alyssae

Alyssae let herself down in the grass, sighing, when the dwarves started to dispute again. This time it was not about what they wanted to do with her, but they questioned the loyalty of a hobbit. The dwarves disagreed with each other, but again Thorin predominated and in the end, only a few dared to deny his harsh words. It was a relief to know Thorin did not only spoke suspiciously about her, for he distrusted their disappeared fellow as well.  
While she secluded herself from the heated voices around her, she ran absently with her fingers through her tangled hair. She doubted if it could still be rescued or that she was forced to cut it off.

For a long time Alyssae was lost in thoughts, even though later she couldn’t remember if these thoughts had been nice or disturbing. Anyway, she was startled when someone suddenly appeared in front of her – out of nothing. Frightened she crawled backwards and from many dwarf mouth upset shrieks rose as well.  
Next to her the old wizard chuckled, where after he took his pipe from his mouth and announced they were complete again.   
With curious eyes Alyssae looked at the hobbit. She only knew these creatures from stories and even there they didn’t fulfill an important role. The hobbit was smaller than the dwarves and he was less broad. He also lacked the beard which characterized the dwarves.  
Thorin didn’t even look at him, but ordered his men to get on their feet again. They watched the hobbit with distrust and suddenly Alyssae felt less lonely. She clearly was not the only misfit.   
‘I am Alyssae,’ she told the hobbit when the group started to walk again. They quickly found a tempo which was even fast for Alyssae – whose legs were twice as long as that of the dwarves.  
The hobbit shook her hand and declared his name was Bilbo Baggins.  
‘I am pleased to meet you.’  
Alyssae confirmed his words, but noticed he was not very surprised to see her amongst the dwarves – or was able to mask his curiosity very well.  
She was eager to know where Bilbo had been, but rough barking prevented her from asking the question. She saw Bilbo pale from shock.  
‘Wargs,’ he whispered.  
It gave her the creeps. She hated the goblins, but she didn’t expect them to revenge their leader without anyone being in charge. She was also overwhelmed by his words since she always believed wargs were the mounts of orcs instead of goblins.  
‘Are they not normal wolves?’ Alyssae asked with an anxious face. She was too weak to fight; she didn’t even have a weapon to defend herself!  
Mithrandir pushed Bilbo in the back with his staff, so that he almost fell. ‘Hurry!’ he yelled and also in his eyes she saw a nerve-racking panic. If even a wizard feared for his live… in what evil did she bring herself?  
She noticed Bilbo’s eyes flashing nervously from left to right. He held a sword in his hand and his other hand was hidden from sight by his pocket.  
‘Run!’ Mithrandir emphasized once more. 


	6. Alyssae

Alyssae had almost no energy after her long captivity. She hadn’t eaten anything since her escape and she knew she couldn’t run for a long time. But she didn’t have a choice. Ending up as a warg meal would be a dismal answer to her freedom.  
When Alyssae urged herself to more speed, she noticed the distance between her and the hobbit became larger, while the dwarves run even faster. She was surprised their short legs could jumper such a distance in only a few minutes.  
   
Yet after a few steps her muscles started to burn and a queasy feeling crept above alongside her oesophagus, so she became afraid to vomit. Because the wizard was around Bilbo, she hoped he would help the poor hobbit. He was after all a wizard.  
The barking and grunting of the wargs merged with the war cries in a language Alyssae did not understand, which worsened her nausea. They were not goblins. They were orcs.  
This knowledge urged her to run faster, so she caught up with the dwarves.  
‘We are trapped!’ Kili suddenly screamed before he came to halt before an abyss.  
With a pounding heart Alyssae turned around and saw the first wolf like monsters appear between the trees.  
Alyssae tried to control her breathing, but the fear came over her like she was wrapped by thick spider thread.  
‘Elf!’ One of the low dwarf voices sounded.  
She glanced over her shoulder, but they were all disappeared, as if they had vanished.  
‘Climb in the tree.’  
Suddenly she noticed a dwarf with a braided beard, who had hidden himself between the branches. She lifted herself up on a branch and climbed higher skillfully. She startled when she ended up next to another dwarf – the one she wanted to avoid.  
Thorin stared at her with a ferocious look in his eyes, as if she had invited the orcs to come here.  
She looked away and climbed higher, so she could escape from his burning eyes.  
With both arms she clamped on a thick branch, from which she had a good view on the terrain. White flashes fled around, coming from the wizard.  
Once in a while she saw a little creature running from tree to tree, but he didn’t seem to get in. Almost a minute she kept looking, until the wargs came closer without Bilbo getting into a tree. Mithrandir did everything he could to keep their enemies away, but the rest of them did nothing except watching.  
   
Alyssae glided down. She landed light-footedly on her feet. Her well developed hearing didn’t function the way it should since it was floated by the raw voices of the orcs and the barking of their animals.  
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as if she could lose her conscious any moment. Mouse-still she stood under the tree, while she tried to orientate. The smell of orcs reached her nose. They were everywhere.  
Alyssae was defenseless. She didn’t have weapons. Nothing.  
‘Give me your dagger!’ she screamed at Thorin. She assumed that he, as a leader, would have more weapons than just his sword.  
Thorin didn’t answer and Alyssae’s eyes glanced around, to different wargs which came closer. Their jaws widened and snarling they bared their razor sharp teeth.  
Alyssae cursed in a manner which was not appropriate to  elves. ‘If you don’t -’  
Her treat silenced when a dull rumble sounded. Thorin stood next to her, with an angry face. He gave her his dagger, which had the extensions of a potato knife.  
‘What the hell are you doing down here, elf?’  
‘Bilbo,’ she mumbled while she grasped the little handle. She had no idea where Bilbo was; she only saw the beaks of the wargs, foamed with rage.  
She resisted the temptation to get back into the tree. She couldn’t let the hobbit down, even though he was not her responsibility.  
‘This doesn’t work,’ Alyssae realized when one of the wolves jumped to them. With a brave strike Thorin separated its head from its body.  
Alyssae pushed him to the tree, while a new warg appeared. ‘Get up!’ she screamed. ‘I have a better idea!’  
Thorin glanced shortly at her, but lifted himself on one of the branches. Beneath him the jaws of one of these monsters snapped.  
She climbed back as well. She glanced into Thorin’s turbulent eyes, which looked at her in expectation.  
‘I’ll go alone.’  
She looked at the little knife.  
The lines about his mouth became grim again, but there was no time for discussion. Dwarves were no elves.  
She looked for a suited branch and balanced over the tiny twigs to the next tree, in order to escape from the view of the wargs.  
   
The adrenaline which flew through her veins gave her a supernatural speed. She reached the tree under which Bilbo was standing, his sword pointed forwards like a spit.  
‘Come here!’ she yelled while folding her legs around the branch to help him. Heavily breathing and bathing in sweat he finally got op into the tree.  
Alyssae sighed in relief, although the situation was not improved. They did sit into a tree, but they couldn’t stay here forever…  
All of a sudden a harsh voice echoed through the woods, which made her ears tremble. A giant pale orc screamed invoking words and it soon became clear Thorin was his aim.  
Alyssae sighed in disbelief. His pride was bigger than his intellect and he jumped out of the tree to confront the orc.


	7. Alyssae

With concentration Alyssae stared at the knife in her hands, as if the weapon would tell her literally to help Thorin or not. The enormous orc was almost three times as big as the stubborn dwarf.  
‘Why does he even listen to that stupid orc?’ Alyssae grouched.  
Dwarves were not famed for their wisdom, but she would have expected Thorin, as a leader, to act differently.  
‘It’s a conflict with a deep history,’ Bilbo knew. ‘Every time they look into each other’s eyes, their burning hate is fed . Once it’s been enough.’  
Alyssae looked at the monstrous face of the orc. His eyes flamed indeed. His lips were constantly moving and although his words got lost in the cheers of his companions, she knew he spit out insults which drove Thorin mad.  
Thorin might be a stubborn little man, but it was beyond dispute that he possessed a courage many man would be jealous of. With his oaken shield in his one hand and his sword in the other, he faced upon a flock of wargs with angry drivers on their backs, while his fellows were hidden in the trees like scared squirrels.  
A courageous dwarf he surely was – but foolish. Maybe dwarf songs would be written about him, but Thorin didn’t seem to be the type of guy setting out to become famous. He seemed way too down to earth. Although in the end it was all that was left of a living being: the memory.

Alyssae took her eyes off Thorin and noticed Bilbo was already half way the tree. He had a firm look in his eyes and she knew raising protests would be a waste of time.  
Her legs clamped around the branch on which she was sitting and she swung backwards. With both hands she grasped the next branch and in this way she reached the ground before Bilbo did.  
‘We can’t leave him to die,’ he explained.  
Alyssae agreed. After all she was free because of Thorin and his fellows. She owed them much, but she didn’t know how she – or Bilbo – could help him.  
Bilbo had a glowing blue sword and she had a nameless dagger, while they had to face salivating wargs, equipped with teeth which were so sharp they would cut effortless through skin and bone.  
Her thoughts disappeared when she heard steel clashing to steel. The pale orc rose above Thorin and grinned awfully, while Thorin defended himself bravely and tried to control his emotions.  
Alyssae was educated in the basics of magic, but already on a young age she found out she was not very talented. She was probably able to cure simple wounds but she had never been in a war and she had no idea how she could help him without suited weapons.  
‘When you,’ she started talking to the hobbit. She fell silent when she found out Bilbo was no longer with her. Afraid she looked around, but the hobbit seemed to have disappeared.  
Nevertheless, his voice hadn't left her. ‘Don’t care about me. I will sneak behind Azog if you help Thorin.’  
Alyssae was so stunned by Bilbo’s disappearance she could only nod, although she felt just as unthinking as the dwarf she had sworn at a few moments ago. With shivering hands she held the knife, while an orc led his animal to her.  
Her knowledge about their language wasn’t sufficient enough to understand his mocking, so he wasn’t able to confuse her. Her eyes were fixed on the neck of the warg, looking for a weak spot.  
Quickly and skillfully Alyssae stroke when the warg bend his knees to jump. Her dagger pierced deep into his neck. A fountain of blood arose from the wound and sprinkled her like an unwanted shower from which she couldn’t escape.  
The animal fell in the grass and its rider lost his balance and rolled over the blood stained earth.  
Alyssae lost her weapon, but she saw her chance now her enemy slipped around disorientated. She threw herself on the orc, who luckily wasn’t as big as his captain.  
With blooded hands she squeezed his throat, while she tried to keep him down. Envious she looked into the ink black eyes of her enemy, which rolled in fear.  
Suffocation was an awful death. A low act of a coward, who overwhelmed a confident in his sleep.  
It was something Alyssae, who was fighting for her life, did not care about. 

Slowly the life-breath of the orc slipped between her convulsive fingers. His mouth hung open and his thick, dark tongue dropped down like a slimy slug. The wild struggling came to an end, as if her enemy accepted his fate.  
Alyssae let go of the creature and picked up the sword the orc had lost during his fall. She glanced at Thorin, but found out she was still too far away from him. His resistance seemed to become weaker and he dragged with his left leg. From countless wounds blood streamed over his body, but he kept raising his shield.  
Alyssae noticed more dwarves were standing on the ground. They all tried to help their leader, but innumerable horrible monsters were standing in between.  
Maybe it had to be this way. Maybe Thorin had to fight his own war. Maybe she shouldn’t interfere, something she could have lived with as she hadn’t promised Bilbo the opposite. 

Sweat ran down her back and between her breasts when Alyssae cleared a way to Thorin while she didn’t stop fighting. The arrows of Kili helped her to free her way, although she didn’t know if he was helping her on purpose. There was no way he could know what she was up to, unless a strange, invisible hobbit whispered secrets to him.  
She picked up an orc sword from the ground and put Thorin’s dagger behind her belt. She hurt herself a few times since the blade wasn’t put into a scabbard, but she swallowed the pain. The muscles in her arms burnt because she swung the heavy sword, which weighted much more than a weapon made by elves.  
She was seized with alarm when she saw Thorin was hit to the ground by Azog. He was lying on a bunch of rocks and was barely moving, although she saw his fingers scratching at the sword which was clashed out of his hands. The pale orc stood vigorously in front of him. With a nasal voice he spit out disdainful words. He raised his arm and Alyssae saw the tarnished metal of his sword sparkle in the sunlight.  
Alyssae had no idea what made her throw herself into the breach for the stubborn dwarf, who didn’t even like her, but she jumped between them. With a raised sword she turned away Thorin’s death blow.  
When their swords banged against each other, Alyssae felt like her arm was breaking. Her sword dropped out of her hands, but Azog – who didn’t expect intervention – lost his weapon too. They glanced into each other’s eyes for a long time. She didn’t know if he was surprised to see an elf, but he didn’t show anything. All of a sudden he screamed angrily and he turned his mighty head around, while he snarled at something or someone she couldn’t see. Without taking her eyes of her enemy, she bent her knees to grab her sword. At the moment her finger tips touched the cold steel, a dark shadow slit across the sky. Terrified she lifted up her head, but she was too late.  
Two enormous claws pushed her against the ground. One of them dug deep into her shoulder and Alyssae screamed loudly. Her head slammed against a stone while she fell. Blue and green flashes cut through her eye-range, while explosions of pain seemed to push her into an abyss. The pain in her shoulder and head seemed to compete, both eager to become fatal.  
A different sound mingled with her screams. A smelling substance came over her face and streamed into her mouth and nostrils, so that Alyssae feared to drown. She tried to catch breath and wanted to raise her arm to protect herself, but something heavy pushed her limb down again.  
Alyssae coughed, spitted, retched and tried to get on her side to escape the suffocating fluid, but every move she made seemed to hasten her asphyxiation. Panic grasped her like an iron fist and it blemished her mind, so she wasn’t able to think any more. Not knowing the source of this evil made her panic even worse.  
Far away from her a voice sounded, but it barely dawned on her and she had no idea if the words were meant for her. Tatters of memories danced before her closed eyes and chased away the flashes which attacked her since her fall. She saw the valleys filled with flowers in which she was raised, in which children played in the river bed and adults were sitting on stones, creating their melodies and rhyming words. She saw the sunset, which spread a colorful carpet across the world. A blanket, which became darker and whose darkness would overwhelm her in the end…


	8. Bilbo

It went terribly wrong, it echoed through Bilbo’s thoughts. He did his best to distract Azog's attention by stinging him in his shins, but he was losing his concentration since he saw Alyssae lying lifelessly under a warg. Her face was unrecognizable by blood. Thorin had known how to get on his feet. He could barely stand up straight and although he had cut off the paw of the animal, he didn’t seem to be able to do much more. He leaned on his sword and his lips were moving, but Bilbo doubted anyone could hear him. Bilbo faced his own problems again when Azog’s sword nearly stroke him. In the meanwhile the creature discovered he was attacked by an invisible enemy, but he kept compelling Bilbo to the mountain side.  
Droplets of cold sweat itched his eyes, while he seized his opportunities. He had to glide along the monster, which was a hazardous task because of the sword which seemed to cover every inch.  
Bilbo heard his heart bouncing in his ears, which made it even harder to concentrate. He tried to control himself, since he knew his on-going gasping lured Azog.  
He was little, he kept telling himself. He could take a spurt and dive between the legs of the orc. For one moment he wished he was facing Gollem, whose hunger he could postpone by riddles. Contrary to yesterday, only brute power was now standing before him- and a burning firmness to cut him in two.  
The mountain side scratched his back unexpected, whereby he whined softly. Bilbo cursed his stupidity, because his cry drew the attention of Azog immediately. Bilbo saw the sword coming towards him. For a moment he was dumbfounded, without being able to do anything except for staring at the great sword.  
Then his instincts took over and he dived to the ground. His knees and hands grazed and his jaws hit against each other when he touched the ground. Panicking he tried to get on his feet again, but his movements attracted too much attention. Bilbo felt a sudden pain in his arm when Azog stepped upon it. The bones creaked and flames of pain sprung from the bones of his fore-arm, which broke like matches. He screamed loud and let go of his sword.  
The world spun around. Because of the pain he couldn’t separate above from beneath. Waves of nausea overflew him and made him throw up. With his other hand he grasped the sword, in a last hope to survive. He cried heart rending while he tried to cut off his own arm, to get rid of the useless body part. He did not succeed.  
Blood spouted out of the wounds he caused himself, but he couldn’t make himself go further. He was dying.

Bilbo didn’t even notice Azog kicking him aside like a dead dog, after which he turned around to go into the affray again. Mouse-still he was lying on the ground, while the ground around him colored red. It seemed like lava was spitted out from a deep hole. Everything got covered, but the source of the blood was extracted from sight. Nobody perceived Bilbo’s lonely battle against the death, in which he tasted defeat slowly. 


	9. Chapter 9

Alyssae barely noticed the weight upon her disappeared. She was rolled on her side. Someone hit her between her shoulder-blades and she retched. She spit out the blood she had swallowed. She felt terribly while she kept throwing up waves of blood.  
The more warg blood left her body, the more noises she heard. The sound of steel clashing on steel still echoed between the mountain sides, but was now mingled with some kind of roaring she couldn’t identify. Slowly she rose. Thorin was sitting on the ground and it seemed like he could lose his conscience any moment. His face was bleak, like death already started to take him to his realm. His long hair was covered with blood and he stared with glazed eyes into the distance.   
Azog fought with three dwarves whose names Alyssae did not know. It rained fire bombs around her. She knew it could only be the work of the wizard. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw him and some others still sitting in the trees, compelled by snarling wargs and shrieking orcs.   
Where was Bilbo? Wobbling she got on her feet again and stumbled across the terrain. She held her sword in her hand, but the wedge dragged uselessly over the floor. She stroked her eye on a large spot of blood, coming from an unknown source. With the little energy that was left she hurried to the place. She knelt down on her knees on the bloody ground. Soft moans reached her ears.  
‘Bilbo?’ Her hands reached forward and she felt the fabric of his clothes. He was lying on the ground. She followed the forms of his body, until she found his face. She bowed to it. His lips were moving and he repeated just one word.  
Ring.  
Ring?   
Alyssae didn’t know if she understood him well. Why would Bilbo talk about a ring? Suddenly she felt a hand on her knee, but it was so heavy and lifeless it could be her imagination as well. She groped for it and felt his stiff fingers. They were swollen. Quickly she slit with her fingers over his hand, until she indeed stumbled across the ring. She pulled it from his finger en all of a sudden Bilbo appeared in front of her.  
He seemed so lost she immediately forgot the power of the ring and she shoved the object in her pocket. His other arm was almost separated from his torso and he had wounds everywhere. She wouldn’t be able to cure him. 

Alyssae talked at a stretch: that Gandalf would come to help him soon. It was a lie. The wizard was held captive in a tree and had his hands full of protecting the dwarves around him.  
There was no way he could help them. Therefore Alyssae told him other things. She spoke of her birthplace and even about her fiancé. There would be a big wedding party and of course Bilbo would be a special guest. Also this was not true. Such as the things were now, there would never be a wedding and after she finished her talking, Bilbo had closed his eyes and he was not breathing anymore.   
Somewhere beyond her reach he would indeed have a great feast, but it was certainly not her wedding party. He went to the place in which the hobbits believed – she had no idea what that was – and there he would get to know the enjoyments he missed on earth.

Alyssae withdrew and tears filled her eyes. Of all the people around her Bilbo was the one she liked the most. Because he was different. Because he didn’t belong to the group, just like her. His sudden departure frightened her. Would she be the next one?  
The answer came immediately when something heavy grasped her shoulders. The ground disappeared beneath her feet and she got the feeling she was racked to the next world in one movement.  
The body of Bilbo became smaller and smaller, until he became invisible in the end, between the trees and stones. 


	10. Alyssae

They had entrenched around a small campfire, on top of a large cliff on which the eagles had lowered them down carefully. A small bending road led downwards, but the orcs could never climb up without noticing.  
Gandalf took care of their wounds, so that Thorin and Alyssae were both sitting straight, unless their pain.  
The atmosphere was depressed. Nobody said anything and only the sound of the sputtering fire and Bombur’s heavy breathing avoided a total silence.  
Alyssae sat only a few meters away from Thorin, but there was a constant tension. It was partially because of her that Thorin was still alive and the situation was exactly the same the other way around. She knew he was the one who pushed the bleeding warg out of her face.  
Both were too proud to thank the other, whereby they both stared into another direction. Alyssae told herself they didn’t really save each other. Their rescue operations would have been in vain when the eagles hadn’t show up.

Finally it was Thorin who broke the silence. Who else could it be?  
‘So we lost our burglar?’  
Unless his weakness and weariness his voice sounded just as solid as before. Her stomach turned around by hearing his deep voice, which sounded quite sexy after all.  
Alyssae was shocked by her own thoughts. She couldn’t remember she believed a voice to be sexy earlier – and this time it was about a dwarf. Or, even worse, Thorin.  
‘Didn’t he flee?’  
Alyssae shook her head. ‘No. Azog smashed his arm. He bled to death.’  
Thorin looked right into her eyes and Alyssae did her best not to look away.  
She was an elf princess. She was not inferior to a dwarf.  
‘Is there anyone to confirm her words?’  
He looked around, as if her opinion didn’t really matter.  
‘Accusing on elf of dissimulation would be unwise,’ said Gandalf.  
Thorin looked surly at her and snorted arrogantly. Alyssae felt like she was withering under his looks and she wanted to put the ring on her finger, to hid herself from sight. However, she abandoned the idea, since it was her only trump. She didn’t want to share her discovery with anyone.  
‘Why do you need a burglar?’ Alyssae asked carefully. She could barely control her curiosity. She really wanted to know what the dwarves were doing here, so far away from their homes.  
‘A dwarf never gives away his secrets. Certainly not to elves.’  
Of course she did expect an answer like that, but she had hoped he would be a little milder.  
‘I would like to help you.’  
After her words it became silent. The opinions of the dwarves reflected in their eyes and it was clear suspicion competed with a fragile sparkle of hope.  
Nevertheless, Thorin’s decision was implacable.  
‘There is no way you are coming with us.’


End file.
